SIR ALEX....ST MIRREN

The only club to have sacked Sir Alex Ferguson is (was?) St Mirren, the Scottish minnows that gave him the "boot" in 1978, but the nucleus of the squad  he built, continued to flourish after he had moved on to Aberdeen. 

They finished third in the Scottish First Division in the 1979/80 season, earning the club a "first ever foray" in European football. They finished third in the Scottish First Divsion (as it was "available" then), giving the Dons the opportunity to play "in Europe".

The first "tie" was on "this day" in 1980 against Sweden's IF Elfsborg, which  they won 2-1. They were put out in the following round and have not had much luck in Europe since!

First Round: IF Elfsborg (Sweden)

17 September 1980 (Away): IF Elfsborg 1–2 St Mirren (Doug Somner scored St Mirren's first-ever European goal)
1 October 1980 (Home): St Mirren 0–0 IF Elfsborg (St Mirren won 2–1 on aggregate).

Second Round: Saint-Étienne (France)

22 October 1980 (Home): St Mirren 0–0 Saint-Étienne
5 November 1980 (Away): Saint-Étienne 2–0 St Mirren (Saint-Étienne won 2–0 on aggregate)

St Mirren Football Club is based in Paisley, Renfrewshire, that competes in the Scottish Premiership after winning the 2017-18 Scottish Championship. Founded in 1877, the team has two nicknames: The Buddies and The Saints. 

St Mirren Football Club was originally a gentlemen's club which was formed in the second half of the 19th century and played, among other sports, cricket and rugby. The increasing popularity of football ensured that by 1877 the members had decided to play association football and 1877 is the football club's official foundation date. They are named after Saint Mirin, the founder of a church at the site of Paisley Abbey and Patron Saint of Paisley. There is also a street in Paisley named St Mirren Street.

Their first match, on 6 October 1877, was when the club defeated Johnstone Britannia 1–0 at Shortroods. Two years later, the club moved to another ground named Thistle Park at Greenhills. It was in 1883 that the club moved to its third home, that of West March (early maps indicate the area as West March rather than the commonly used Westmarch), defeating Queen's Park in the first game there. The 1890 season was a historic season for St Mirren, as they became founder members of the Scottish Football League along with fellow Paisley club Abercom. Of the eleven founder clubs, only five survive in the current league system.

THE BIRTH OF TELEVISED FOOTBALL-NOW LOOK AT IT!

Today in 1937, football first flirted with television. The BBC had started its new-fangled television service in 1936 and decided that television might lend itself quite well to football, the beautiful game! So a specially organised game between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves was held to test out the new technology, on this day. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hf8fI60cKx8 explains it all!

This was followed by the first live televised international match, between England and Scotland on the 9th of April 1938, and the first televised FA Cup Final followed on 30th of April 1938, between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.

On the 19th of October 1946, the first live televised football match since the war was broadcast by the BBC from Underhill Stadium in Barnet, London. Twenty minutes of the first half and thirty-five minutes of the second half of Barnet's Athenian League match against Wealdstone were broadcast before it became too dark.

The first FA Cup tie other than the final to be shown was a fifth round match between CHarlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers on the 8th February 1947, but matches were sparing and for technical reasons only games in London could be broadcast.

The dawn of regular coverage

The first LIVE Football League match was transmitted by ITV in September 1960 but the programme was not a sucess. I remember seeing Blackpool play Bolton Wanderers at Bloomfield Road, on a tiny telly, in black and white, grainy to say the least; it was not a great success. The cameras were stationed behind the goals and ITV only showed the last five minutes of the first half. The main attraction (for me especially) was Stanley Matthews, my hero, and he was not playing-injured! 

The match, was worth £150,000, and kicked off at 6:50 pm with live coverage starting at 7:30pm under the title The Big Game. The game was played in front of a half-empty stadium. ITV withdrew from the deal, after Arsenal first and then Tottenham Hotspur, refused ITV permission to film at their matches against Newcastle Utd and Aston Villa respectively, and when the Football League demanded a dramatic increase in player appearance payments.

The viewing figures were poor and within weeks the contract between broadcaster and FL was scrapped.

23 years later another league match was televised but not in its entirety, when ITV showed Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest on, 2nd October 1983, with regular LIVE matches shown by ITV and BBC during the mid-1980s, although the broadcasters operated as a cartel, keeping the costs low. Football hardly benefitted. 

The football administrators tried to hold out for more money in 1986, so the games were taken off the screens for half a year, until the Football League returned "cap in hand" to take the £4.5m on offer.

Satellite technology changed attitudes, with BBC and ITV no longer the only "players". British Sky Broadcasting made a £99m ten year bid for league rights in 1988, which led to ITV breaking from the BBC and offering £44m for four years. ITV won the bid partly because the big clubs would pocket the majority of the prize which had previously been split between the 92 league clubs.

The seed of a "breakaway super league" had been unearthed and on 20th February 1992 the Premier League was launched with matches starting in the Summer 1992 when the ITV deal "ran out".

HOW MANY CAN YOU NAME? DON'T SCROLL DOWN!

ITV bid £262m for the new PL TV contract and appeared to have won it, when Spurs' chairman (and Amstrad satellite dish manufacturer) Alan Sugar announced "You've got to blow them out of the water" down a phone. But to whom? Hours later SKY produced a £304m bid and won the contract.

In August, Teddy Sheringham shot past David James to score SKY's first "LIVE GOAL" and as the adverts announced, "A whole new ball game" was born.  David James made his debut after moving from Watford in July. Paul Stewart made his debut after moving from Tottenham Hotspur in July.

Commenting on the only goal of the game, Forest manager Brian Clough said: "You don't work on scoring goals like that. They come out of the blue through sheer ability. Edward Sheringham stuck it in. That's what he's paid for."

The time line is: 18 May – Sky outbids ITV for the live rights to the newly formed football Premier League. Sky bids £304 million, as opposed to ITV's £262 million.

27 June – Due to ITV losing the rights to top flight football, Saint and Greavsie is broadcast for the final time following a decision by ITV to drop its Saturday football preview and results programmes. The final edition of Results Service had been shown a month earlier but Saint & Greavsie continued for an additional month so that the programme could cover Euro'92

• 15 August – Sky Sports  launches Sports Saturday. The programme follows the same format as the BBC's Grandstand programme featuring a mix of sporting action, concluding with the day's football results.
• 16 August – To mark the start of Sky Sports' coverage of the PL. the channel launches an afternoon-long programme called Super Sunday The programme concludes with a 90-minute football round-up called Scorelines.
• 17 August – Monday Night Football makes its debut on Sky Sports as part of Sky's deal to show Premier League matches on Monday evenings. This is the first time that domestic football has been shown in the UK on Monday evenings.
• August – ITV maintains their partnership with the Football League and begins showing matches from the second tier of English football. The coverage is shown on a regional basis with many English regions showing a live game on a Sunday afternoon.
• 6 September – The first edition of Football Italia is broadcast as part of Channel 4's deal to show Serie A. The channel continues to show Italian football for the next ten years. At its peak in the 1990s, Football Italia attracted over 3 million viewers, and remains the most watched programme in the UK about a non-British domestic football league.
• 16 September – ITV shows its first matches from the newly formed UEFA Champions League having purchased the rights following it being outbid for the rights to the Premier League.
• https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12049799/on-this-day-first-live-premier-league-goal
• Back Row (L-R)
  David Hirst (Sheffield Wednesday)
  Lee Sharp (Manchester United)
  Tony Daley (Aston Villa)
  Vinnie Jones (Chelsea)
  Mark Wright (Liverpool)
  John Wark (Ipswich)
  Tim Flowers (Southampton)
  Tim Sherwood (Blackburn Rovers)
  
  Middle Row (L-R)
  Ian Brightwell (Manchester City)
  Ian Butterworth (Norwich City)
  Hans Segars (Wimbledon)
  Andy Pearce (Coventry City)
  Carl Bradshaw (Sheffield United)
  Gordon Durie (Spurs)
  David Hillier (Arsenal)
  
  Front Row (L-R)
  Gary Charles (Nottingham Forest)
  Andy Ritchie (Oldham)
  John Salako (Crystal Palace)
  Andy Sinton (QPR)
  Andy Kernaghan (Middlesbrough)
  Gordon Strachan (Leeds)
  Peter Beardsley (Everton)

30 YEARS OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Inspiring local communities.

Investing in communities and support,
in the game, in grass roots.

Providing opportunities to people from all backgrounds
and ages to follow their dreams.

Our Trophy Tour is a celebration of changing the lives of millions of people around the world through our shared love of football.

COMPTON AND BALDERSTONE

Yes, you may have read this before...but it is the "turn" of the Seasons and football is beginning to take preference over cricket. As cricketer-footballers go, Chris Balderstone once of Carlisle United FC and Leicestershire CCC, might not have been in the "class" of Denis Compton (BELOW...please don't say "who?"). Denis won the Football League and FA Cup with Arsenal and is only one of eight men to boast a Test batting average for England of over 50 runs. 

BUT Denis had never played in a professional football match in the evening after helping his County cricket side to the County Championship that same afternoon; Balderstone had!!!

Huddersfield born, Chris Balderstone (SEE ON) was the last man to play both sports at the "top" level in England, although he never made it to the First Division at all. Before the 1973-4 season, Balderstone was "stripped" of his position as captain of Second Division, Carlisle United and suspended for chosing to remain playing cricket with Leicesterhire as they finished the county season.

The club softened their "stance", as Balderstone was recalled to help his beloved Carlisle United to promotion. He scored a decisive penalty against SPURS to send Carlisle top of the first published League table of the new season. Carlisle did not stay in the "top division" for long though, being relegated in last place, at the end of the season. Balderstone was transfered to Fourth Division Doncaster Rovers.

On the day, Leicestershire won the 1975 County Championship, at stumps, at Chesterfield, Balderstone was 51 not out . He then drove 30 miles to Belle Vue, where Donny "ground" out a 1-1 draw with Brentford. Chris was back at Chesterfield the following morning to complete his century and to take three wickets to wrap up the game. His innings of 116 is the only century to have built around a Football League match!

Chris played for Huddersfield Town, Carlisle Utd, Donny and Queen of the South. He played and umpired in first-class cricket making it to international level – he played in two Tests in 1976 and umpired in two ODIs between 1994 and 1998. In a long club career, he was a key part of the five trophy winning Leicestershire side of the early and mid-1970s.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1958–1965	Huddersfield Town	117	(24)
1965–1975	Carlisle United	376	(68)
1975–1976	Doncaster Rovers	39	(1)
1976–1978	Queen of the South	34	(0)

Football

Carlisle United:-

• Second Division 1973/74 – promotion
• League Cup 1969/70 – Semi finalist

Cricket

Leicestershire:-

• County Championship – winner – 1975; runner up 1982
• Sunday/National League – winner – 1974, 1977; runner up 1972
• Benson & Hedges Cup – winner – 1972, 1975, 1985; runner up 1974
• England

  Test debut	22 July 1976 v West Indies
  Last Test	12 August 1976 v West Indies

  Umpiring information
  ODIs umpired 2 1994-8

"Ray Illingworth took me to Leicestershire. I might be a decent bloke on the outside but he knew I was mentally hard through football. Cricketers might think they're pretty hard but they're not compared to footballers. It was a great move for me." 

In 1976, Balderstone was called into the England Test team to make his international debut aged 35 having focused in his younger days on football.

Chris Balderstone died suddenly at his home in Carlisle on 6 March 2000, having suffered from prostate cancer.

THE PENALTY KICK

September 14th 1891, the humble penalty kick was mastered by Germany! and invented by an Irishman named William McCrum, a Victorian mill owner and in his spare time!! a goalkeeper from Milford in County Armagh. McCrum came up with the idea to stop the cheating and and eventually the Football League in England thought it was a good idea to stop the cheating, so eventually the English Football League introduced it to the game. On this day in 1891, John Heath of Wolverhampton Wanderers scored the first ever Football League penalty kick, in a 5-0 thrashing of Accrington Stanley (who else!) at Molineux.

A penalty kick, commonly known as a penalty or a spot kick, is a method of restarting play in Football, in which a player is allowed to take a single shot at the goal while it is defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper (or chosen "defender for that moment). 

It is awarded when an offence punishable by a direct free kick is committed by a player in his own penalty area. The shot is taken from the penalty spot, which is 12 yards (11 metres) from the goal line, and centered between the touch lines.

Hope this works for you....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGsr4aT8z8

DER RAUMDEUTER

Thomas Müller born 13 September 1989) is a German professional footballer who plays as an midfielder for the Major League club Vancouver Whitecaps. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. Nicknamed "der Raumdeuter" (the 'interpreter of space'), Müller has been praised for his positioning, finishing, work-rate, and consistency in both scoring and creating goals. He is both the all-time German top goalscorer and "providier" in the UEFA Champions League.

As a product of Bayern Munich's youth system which he joined at age 10 in 2000, Müller played for the club until 2025. With Bayern, he won a record thirteen Bundesliga titles, six DFB-Pokals eight DFL-Supercups, two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, and two FIFA Super World Cups. He joined the first team in the 2009-10 Season after Louis Van Gaal was appointed as the main coach; he played almost every game that season as Bayern won the League and Cup Double and reached the 2010 Champions League Final Müller also scored in the 2012 Champions League Final though Bayern lost that final on penalties. Müller scored 23 goals in the 2012-13 Champions League as Bayern won a historic treble; the league title, cup and Champions League. In the 2019-20 he broke the Bundesliga record for assists in a season with 21 (a joint record in the top five leagues alongside Lionel Messi in La Liga and Bruno Fernandes in the Premier League) and scored 14 goals as Bayern won a second treble. With 756 matches played across seventeen seasons, Müller is Bayern's All-time record appearance holder,  scoring 250 goals and providing 223 assists for the club across all competitions. He is one of only three players in league history to reach the landmark of 100 Bundesliga goals and 100 Bundesliga assists each (alongside Andreas Moller and Marco Reus). He also holds the record for the most UEFA Champions League appearances with one team.

Müller was called up to the German National Team in 2010. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he scored five goals in six appearances as Germany finished in third place. He was named the Best Young Player of the tournament and won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer. At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he played a major role in helping the team win the trophy, as he scored five goals and received the Silver Ball as the tournament's second best player and the Silver Boot as the second top goalscorer. He was also named in the World Cup All-Star XI and in the Dream Team. He retired from international football after the UEFA Euro 2024. On 1 October 2025, Müller became the most decorated German footballer in history with 35 trophies.

BAGS OF GOALS

This date is particularly historic and is worth publishing "again"...yes I have published this some years ago! 

The Scottish club, Dundee Harp, was founded to provide a focus of sporting interest for the city's large Roman Catholic community, largely of Irish descent, following the example of the leaders of the same community in Edinburgh who founded Hibernian in 1875 along the same principles. By 1879 the football craze had hit the capital and the city's "Little Ireland" community set up their own club in "Cowgate". As early as 1851, 19% of Dundee's population was Irish born, more than in Glasgow and one area was known as "Tipperary".

The club's ground was located near the gas works in East Dock Street. The club did not compete in a national league, mostly playing in local and regional competitions in the East of Scotland.

Harp's most notable result was a 35–0 victory against Aberdeen Rovers in a Scottish FA Cup game played on 12 September 1885. Remarkably, this occurred on the same day that Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36–0, the largest gap between two clubs in British Football League history. 18 year old John Petrie scored 13 goals, a Scottish Cup and a World record, that has been equalled but not beaten.

Although the referee in the Harp-Aberdeen Rovers game had noted 37 goals, Harp's secretary suggested a miscount must have occurred as he had recorded only 35. Some in the crowd counted 41 times that the ball went into the net!! The match official, acknowledging that it was difficult for him to keep accurate details during such a deluge of goals, accepted the lower tally and wired the official score of 35–0 to SFA headquarters.

Dundee Harp full back, Tom O'Kane, was an ex-Arbroath player, and he persuaded the Dundee club's officials to send a telegram to his former colleagues at Gayfield Park, boasting of his team's record breaking achievement. The Harp players and officials were not to know that Arbroath had actually gone one better against another unfortunate Aberdeen side on that same afternoon. On receiving the Harp telegram, Arbroath officials took great delight in sending a reply boasting of the Angus side's superior achievement. It was only when O'Kane arrived back in Arbroath on the late Saturday evening train that he discovered the truth. Locals were quick to tell him that the Arbroath result was no joke and Harp's record-breaking claim was about to be lost.

The club, Dundee Harp, later, was suspended by the SFA, in 1894, for inability to pay match guarantees to visiting clubs and so, sadly, Harp disappeared from the scene.

Plans to form a new club were reported in the local press only a week after Harp's demise, and as a result Dundee Hibernian was formed before a fortnight had passed. This club had no connection to the club of the same name, that was founded in 1909 and became Dundee United in 1923. This Dundee Hibernian changed its name to Dundee Harp in 1896, but the following year the club went out of business, weighed down by debts which it could not meet and was suspended by the SFA for inability to pay match guarantees to visiting clubs and Harp then disappeared from the scene.

A club named Harp F.C. was founded in the Lochee district of Dundee in 1904, this was a junior club (the equivalent of a non-league club in England), the level at which it still plays today, under the name Lochee Harp.

The club played at Magdalen Green from 1879 until moving to Tayside Park in 1881. In 1883 they moved to Viewforth Park, but moved again the following year to East Dock Street, also known as the Harp Athletic Grounds

The club, Bon Accord, was in the Cup by error, because the Scottish FA invited Orion Cricket Club into the cup rather than Orion FC. Orion CC members made up the name, Bon Accord, and had no proper kit or practice, but they turned up to play. Referee, Dave Stormont, had missed noting several goals that might have notched up 40 in total. Two seasons later in the first round of the Scottish Cup, Arbroath, by chance, hosted the real Orion FC and only beat them 18-0!

Arbroath went on to win their next match against Forfar 9-1 (should have been forty-four?) and then Dundee East End 7-1, losing to Hibernian 3-5 in the fourth round.

The biggest English FA Cup score we know is Preston 26 Hyde 0, achieved on October 15th 1887.
West Ham share the highest Football League Cup win, beating Bury 10-0 in a second leg game in October 1983 with Liverpool, who also put 10 past Fulham in September 1986.

THE COMPLICATED HISTORY OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION CUP(S)!

The English Football Association Cup was first played for in 1872 and the trophy was made by Martin, Hall and Co. It was 18" high, held a "quart" (two pints!) and stolen on September 11th 1895, from a shop where it was on "display" in Birmingham, the city where the winners, Aston Villa, originated.

Aston Villa were fined £25 by the FA for their lack of security after the club "lent" the cup to their local shoe shop owner who put on show for all to see. They did!! It was never recovered.

In the early days the cup was presented at a reception, indeed the first winners, the Wanderers, received the trophy four weeks later at a dinner held at the Pall Mall restaurant, Charing Cross. Whereas in 1882 the presentation ceremony was first held immediately after the game.

The FA Cup, known as "The Little Tin Idol", worth £20 was stolen from William Shillcock's Boot and Shoe shop 73 Newtown Row, in Birmingham, where it was on display after Aston Villa's Cup Final win on April 20th at the Crystal Palace. Villa beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0. Shillcock was a friend of William McGregor, the founder of the Football League (first competed for in 1888).
 
A hole on a "lean to" roof (18" x 12") and a set of size 5 footprints was all that was left by who ever carried out the robbery. A £10 reward bore no affect and it was assumed the cup would have been melted down to make silver coins.

The second cup was used until 1910, when it was presented to Lord Kinnaird, the FA's long serving president. He died in 1923 (same year as the FA Cup Final move to Wembley Stadium) and the cup was eventually auctioned in 2005 for £420,000. This was bought by David Gold who placed the cup in the National Football Museum in 2006.

The reason for the change in 1910 was Manchester United's fault. The club was not happy with the trophy that they won in 1909, so they had their own made! (apparently other copies were made in Manchester too). The FA noticed that they did not hold copyright to the original trophy and so had a new cup made by Fattorini and Sons, an Italian migrant family living in Harrogate and owning a factory in Bradford. Needless to say Bradford City won the "first final" in 1911 and carried away the 24 inch high cup.

A smaller replica of this cup was played for in the North Wales Coast FA Cup competition.

The tradition of tying ribbons to the cup handles was first started in 1901...yep, when Spurs won it from the lowly Southern League. The wife of the club's director brought navy and white ribbons with her to the final!

The Fattorini trophy served until 1991. The old cup was battered by use and replaced but the FA provided a heavier version in 2014 made by Thomas Lyte and weighing in at 14 pounds, as below.